Charter schools want to co-locate on eight Pembroke Pines campuses. Here’s where
Pembroke Pines schools have received over a dozen letters from charter school companies interested in co-locating on their campuses, according to Broward County Public Schools officials.
The school district was sent 127 requests total — with 14 directed toward five elementary schools and three middle schools in the city — for the 2027-2028 academic year, according to BCPS spokesperson Keyla Concepción.
Letters trickled in early Tuesday, Nov. 11, the start of the application period for the state board’s “Schools of Hope” initiative.
Started in 2017, the program incentivized qualifying charter school companies — or “hope operators” — to co-locate and serve students in “persistently low-performing,” district-run schools.
A bill passed during Florida’s 2025 summer legislative session expands charter schools’ reach, allowing them to co-locate in underenrolled public institutions, even if considered high-performing, the Associated Press reported in June.
BCPS would be required to share “all or part of an educational facility at no cost” and “without limitation,” added WUSF, Tampa Bay’s public radio station, in September. That includes handing over underused or vacant spaces and offering services such as custodial work, maintenance, school safety, transportation and more “without limitation.”
Below are the Pembroke Pines schools charter schools showed interest in:
BridgePrep Academy, Inc:
- Chapel Trail Elementary School, 19595 Taft St.
- Palm Cove Elementary School, 11601 Washington St.
- Panther Run Elementary School , 801 NW 172nd Ave.
- Pines Lake Elementary School, 10300 Johnson St.
- Pines Collegiate Academy 6-12, 200 Douglas Road
- Silver Palms Elementary School, 1209 NW 155th Ave.
- Silver Trail Middle School, 18300 Sheridan St.
- Walter C. Young Middle School, 901 NW 129th Ave.
Mater Academy:
- Palm Cove Elementary School, 11601 Washington St.
- Panther Run Elementary School , 801 NW 172nd Ave.
- Pines Collegiate Academy 6-12, 200 Douglas Road
Somerset Academy:
- Palm Cove Elementary School, 11601 Washington St.
- Panther Run Elementary School, 801 NW 172nd Ave.
- Pines Collegiate Academy 6-12, 200 Douglas Road
Of the charter schools that vied for city school campuses, only Mater Academy is a state-designated “hope operator,” along with RCMA, Democracy Prep Public Schools, Inc., IDEA Public Schools, Success Academy, Renaissance/Warrington Preparatory Academy, and KIPP New Jersey.
The K-12, college preparatory charter school — which runs schools in Florida and Nevada — prematurely requested 27 Broward schools in October, according to Rebecca Thompson, a BCPS school board member for District 2.
Its early efforts were in vain after BCPS objected to Mater Academy’s requests for Palm Cove Elementary, Panther Run Elementary and Pines Collegiate Academy 6-12 in a Nov. 14 letter to its president, Roberto C. Blanch. The district claimed none of the schools qualified as “low-performing” per “Schools of Hope” selection criteria.
For schools that could qualify, Thompson adds, an evaluation of the requested campuses will be conducted and shared with the state Department of Education to make sure all eligbility requirements are met.
“There’s not a formalized process ... because it is so new,” she said. “I think in the next few months, or as this shakes out, we’ll know more.”
As for BridgePrep Academy and Somerset Academy, neither charter shows plans to scale back their efforts despite ineligibility and growing criticism from community members who feel they’re being pushed out of their public schools.
Officials at BridgePrep, which operates in nine Florida counties, including a K-8 in Hollywood, claimed it meets the state’s eligibility requirements and say it is waiting for review from the state Department of Education, the Sun Sentinel reported.
Somerset — formerly a “hope operator” during the program’s early days — was originally up for reconsideration during a Nov. 13 Board of Education meeting until the vote was withdrawn from the agenda.
Academica, the parent company that owns Mater and Somserset, clarified that its efforts are “not about replacing or displacing existing schools,” according to a statement posted on its website homepage.
The charter giant said that it expects to only open a handful of schools for the 2027-28 school year despite the hundreds of letters it has sent to school districts and plans to “rescind notices for locations that will not be used once we determine in which schools we will co-locate.”
“It is about working together to expand public access to underutilized school facilities and creating new educational opportunities for families,” the website reads. “For more than 25 years, Academica-supported schools have partnered with Florida’s districts to serve students. That same spirit of cooperation and respect guides this process.”
This story was originally published November 17, 2025 at 2:01 PM.
